


Ageless Warrior

by SoapLess



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Comedy, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fantasy, Growing Up, Multi, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:46:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 19,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23482624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoapLess/pseuds/SoapLess
Summary: Mature for language, and explicit scenesThe universe is not well. Different timelines are combining and dissipating at will, causing the Earth to be filled to the brim with terrors that should not be. A war among the gods brew, allowing for vengeful figures to watch and revel at their chance at reclaimed power. The son of the Pagan Goddess is called upon to save Time itself, for without him all will be lost.A very unorthodox PJO story, for good reason however. Percy is a son of Hecate.Eventual Pertemis, please leave feedback.
Relationships: Artemis/Percy Jackson
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	1. Unfortunate Losses

Disclaimer: All characters not created by me are owned by Rick Riordan.

***** β *****

What I’m about to say is something none of you will believe. 

I understand. 

I completely understand that everything I’m about to tell you seems absolutely blasphemous. When I tell you that I died, came back to life, became arguably the strongest being to ever live, and then married and had a bunch of babies with one of hottest women to ever grace the galaxy (who was also a virgin), you’re probably gonna be thinking I’m smoking some incredible crack.

Laced with some DMT.

Regardless of all that, I’m still going to say everything that has happened to me. Because if I don’t, I’m scared even I’ll start to believe that all of this is some weird, altered dream state away from our plane of existence.

So I guess I’ll introduce myself to you. I’m Percy Jackson, and you’re about to hear how my thirteen-year-old life turned to crap in mere days.

Let’s start when times were much, MUCH simpler.

“Percy!”

My head shot up, as I tried to pretend I had been paying attention for the past hour. “Yes sir?”

Mrs. Dobbs’s head tilted downwards, which caused her glasses to slide down her nose slightly. She shot a death glare at me. “This is the third time this week that you’ve fallen asleep in my class. And what have I told you about calling me sir?”

I shrugged, and allowed for a lopsided smirk to find its way onto my face. “I’m sorry Mrs. Dobbs, it’s just so hard for my brain to decide whether to call you a sir or a ma’am sometimes.” This resulted in the stifled laughter of many of my classmates, my best friend Grover being the loudest.

She apparently had enough of my antics, for she got up from her chair, marched over to me, and slammed her hands on my desk. “Okay funny guy, you’ve got jokes? Let’s see how funny it is when you’re wiping every single desk and whiteboard in this building.” She smiled when my eyes narrowed. “Every morning until the end of the school year.”

I pictured taking her dumb glasses off her face and breaking it over her head. “You can’t do that.”

She stood up, and made an ironic, thoughtful expression. “Oh, I can’t?”

I opened my mouth to fire back at her, but bit my tongue. I can’t be expelled again, I thought to myself.

Instead, I forced a smile. “Yes ma’am, you can.”

My favorite teacher grinned triumphantly back at me, then proceeded to tell everyone about our field trip we were taking to the Museum of Art today in downtown Manhattan. Of course, we had already been told all of this before in Mr. Brunner’s class, but Mrs. Dodds always liked to hear herself speak, so we were being told about it again. And I guess since she was our homeroom teacher she thought it would be better if she made sure that everyone knew what was going on.

She finally finished her long, boring explanation, all of which I had ignored out of spite. Now, all we had to do was wait for the bell to ring so we could go out to the bus-loop to get picked up.

I’m guessing that all of you have gone on field trips before, in which you had a good amount of fun on, right? Sure, why not. That may be the case for all of you people, but for us at Yancy Academy, they were often as fun as picking a clump of crap off the bottom of your shoe.

Yancy is probably the worst school I’d ever attended, and that’s saying something seeing as I’ve been expelled at least a dozen times. I had gotten expelled so many times that my sister had to use some of her student loans to send me to a boarding school, since no other public schools in Pennsylvania wanted me. And even though it was considered a “school for the troubled”, you’d think after spending all that money you’d be promised a good education, some half decent food, and a few field trips that weren’t boring as crap.

Let’s just say that if you thought that, you’d be mistaken.

And it’s not like it was the museum that I wasn’t excited for (but then again, a field trip to learn stuff didn’t sound that great), it was the nutcase teachers that didn’t let anyone have an ounce of fun. No talking, no running around, no touching, no moving, no breathing, nothing! Like come on man, we’re freaking kids. Let us break some shit!

But then again, Mr. Brunner was going with us. He was without a doubt the coolest teacher in this used-condom you call a school. If you saw him in public, you definitely wouldn’t guess that he’s a Latin teacher, teaching in a school full of delinquent teenagers. Rather, he was one of those chill, laid back type of dudes who you could totally see cracking a cold one open after a long day of work. I never got it, how a guy who wouldn’t ever walk again in his life was one of the happiest dudes in the world. Meanwhile, there were teachers like Mrs. Dodds who couldn’t find a reason to be happy.

God, imagine how terrible it must be for Mr. Dobbs to come home to that everyday.

While all the other teachers treated students like nothing more than cockroaches, Mr. Brunner spoke to his students with respect, and seemed to actually care about what we had to say. And plus, he actually made learning something in school fun. Latin out of all things. He spoke about Ancient Rome, Greece, Mythology, basically all the stuff that I’d been interested in since I was a kid. I came up with the theory that when you lose your ability to walk, you somehow learn to not take things more seriously than it should.

I guess it could have some dark truth to it.

Anyways, after a few minutes of talking amongst ourselves the bell finally rang. Everyone immediately sprang out of their seats and out the door, despite the nagging that came from Mrs. Dodds. I was about to bolt ahead of everyone to get one of the back seats of the bus, but turned around to see my buddy Grover hobbling after everyone pitifully.

I sighed, stopped, and jogged back to Grover. “Hurry up, Grove! We gotta get the back seat before that she-whale Nancy gets it.”

Grover began to huff and puff, clearly getting tired. “I’m sorry Percy, I’m trying.”

Looking at my friend with sympathy, I grabbed one of his crutches and put his arm over my shoulder to help him move a bit quicker. “I got you buddy.”

Grover was the best friend I could have during this trip-through-hell you call a school year. He was always there for me, whether it was helping me study, or trying to keep me out of trouble. Of course he would fail most of the time, but he clearly tried his best. Most of the people in our grade liked to talk and crack jokes about him behind his back, and most of the time mine as well. Why you ask? Well, I always had the reputation of standing up for me and my friends, regardless of who I was going against. I’d already demonstrated that against a wannabe thug earlier in the school year, who thought he would be funny if he kicked one of Grover’s crutches while he was standing in the lunch line.

He found out that day what a Philly asswhooping was like.

There was a reason people talked about Grover though, he was the perfect image of someone you’d imagine gets bullied. He walked with crutches due to a muscular disease, he had acne, a goatee that was stringy like pubes, and was very scrawny. So, I felt it as a personal responsibility to protect him as often as I could, regardless of the amount of detentions I got assigned to.

When Grover and I finally made it to the bus loop, the bitch herself, Nancy Bobofit, was standing with her usual clique, eyeing everyone who passed her. Her eyes stopped when she met mine, and she broke out into laughter when she saw what I was doing. “See everyone? The rumors are true! The reason Percy has never had a girlfriend is because he’s had a gay relationship with Grover this whole time. Who knew?”

I felt my cheeks heat up as I got angry, quick. “If you don’t think I won’t knock a few of those nasty ass teeth out your mouth because you’re a girl, you’ve got another thing coming.”

This comment may have been seen as extremely offensive to normal, functional human beings. But to the insane children at Yancy, it was completely normal to talk to other students like this. Nancy still closed her mouth however, granting me the privilege of not seeing the corn kernels for teeth she had. “Whatever, Prissy. C’mon guys.” With that, Nancy and her sheep walked onto the bus and towards the back.

“I might actually get arrested for domestic violence today, Grover,” I said, helping him up the steps inside the bus doors.

He struggled a bit, until he finally made it onto the bus, practically throwing himself onto one of the first seats he saw. I usually would have complained about being so close to the front, but I didn’t, seeing as I didn’t want to deal with Bobofit right now. “It’s honestly not worth it, Perce. She wants to get a reaction out of you. Do you want to get expelled again?”

“Grover what kind of question is that?” I asked, getting into the seat with him. “Of course I don’t want to get expelled again. My sister had to pull a lot of strings to get me into this piece of shit school.” I looked at him, and jabbed him lightly on his shoulder. “But I’m still not going to let that cow mess with my best-friend.”

Grover snarled, and began to rub the spot I had just hit. “I appreciate that, but can you at least try to not let her get your britches in a bunch today?”

I sighed. “I’ll try buddy. And who still says britches?”

After an awful bus ride where Grover had been pelted by spit-balls and little balls of bread soaked in peanut butter, we finally had made it to the museum. Everyone got off the bus, and after getting everyone situated, Mr. Brunner led us through the museum’s security, and onto the main floor.

The first gallery we visited was the Ancient Greek section, which made sense, since Greek mythology was one of the most talked about subjects in our class. Currently, he was speaking in front of a painting of Kronos, where he was about to feast on one of his offspring. He was explaining that he was being handed Poseidon, the god of the sea, by his queen Rhea. 

I was trying to listen, since what he was talking about was actually pretty cool. But every time I had become invested into what he was saying, someone around me would say something stupid. This time it was Nancy, who was giggling like an idiot because Kronos and Rhea were drawn naked.

Finally sick of it, I turned around. “Are you fucking six?”

I meant to whisper it, but it may have come out a bit louder than I intended. Everyone's eyes shot to me, as Mr. Brunner stopped mid-sentence. “Is there a comment you'd like to share, Percy?”

My gaze shot back towards him. “No sir.”

He appeared to not be satisfied with my answer, as he pointed to a nearby stone stele with engravings on it. “Why don't you tell us all what this is?”

Thankfully, it was something we’d been shown in class before. It was recounting the death of Kronos, and the freeing of his children from his bowels. “That's Kronos.”

Mr. Brunner looked unimpressed. “Fantastic job. What is Kronos known for?”

I scanned over the engravings from left to right, having no idea if that was the correct way to read the story chronologically. “Well, he was king of the Titans, I think. And he had heard a prophecy that stated he would be overthrown by one of his children. Because of that, he had his wife feed him any children they birthed.”

He smirked, then nodded confidently. “Very good, Percy. And how were they freed?”

“He had a son named Zeus, and when his wife Rhea had him, she fed Kronos a rock.” Which is really stupid by the way. “After that, she hid him in a cave far away or something, and when he was grown up he poisoned his dad, and made him throw up all the kids he’d ate. Then all the titans and gods fought, and the gods won.”

Mr. Brunner’s eyebrows raised, as he nodded at me, seemingly impressed. “Very good Percy.” He smiled and looked towards the back of the group, where the other teachers were. “Mrs. Dodds, can you lead everyone to those statues down there, please?”

“Of course, Mr. Brunner. Come on then, kids!” She said, as the entire group, including myself, continued down the section.

“Percy, you come here,” said Mr. Brunner.

I silently cursed to myself, while Nancy laughed as she passed me. “That’s what you get, bitch.” 

Grover meanwhile patted my back in encouragement, and hobbled along with everyone else. “Have fun.”

I stood still, and watched as Mr. Brunner rolled to me. He combed back his thinning hair with his hand, and seemed to study me with his brown eyes “What's your GPA, Percy?”

Oh, god. I laughed a bit sheepishly. “Uh, a 1.9?” I don’t know why I answered it as a question, it definitely wasn’t an appropriate question to answer with another question.

He shook his head, clearly not happy with my response. “You need to try harder Percy. I expect you to be trying your absolute hardest in all of your classes.”

“But Mr. Brunner, you know I have dyslexia and ADHD.”

“Yes Percy, I fully understand your conditions. But you should not treat them as disabilities, but instead as gifts. You're a very bright boy Percy, you only need to learn how to utilize it.”

I definitely didn’t understand how ADHD and dyslexia could be interpreted as any form of a gift. If it was a gift, then whoever gave it to me had a sick sense of humor. I’d struggled with it my entire life, and had been told by doctors numerous times that it was the main reason I had so much trouble doing well in school, and staying in school. I shook my head, upset that he was expecting so much of me. Why should he care? 

“Yes sir.”

Mr. Brunner looked at me curiously, until he waved me off. “Go on, go outside and eat your lunch.”

I nodded, and turned around.

Sure I was upset, but I was still happy that someone, and actually held me to some standards. Every teacher I'd ever had hated me, and watched me fail in their classes without exerting any effort to help me. That is, until I met Mr. Brunner. I'm pretty sure after the fifth school I was kicked out of, even my sister began to doubt me. I guess getting expelled from every school in the county does that to you.

My sister's name was Renee, and technically she was my half-sister. My deceased father was her dad, while her mom was his longtime girlfriend from high school. They were a fairly happy couple all throughout my sister’s childhood, and that lasted until her mother was killed in a plane crash. A few years after she died, my father hooked up with my mother. 

My mother apparently only saw my dad once, that one time being the night that they got busy. Nine months later I was born, where I was introduced to my father one morning via a shoebox on his front porch. The only things I knew about him personally was that his name was Alonzo, and he died when I was very young in a plane crash.

So yeah, my sister and I use cars as our main mode of transportation.

Anyways, in his will my father said that I was to be under the custody of my sister when she turned 18. Until that point, we had to live with his alcoholic sister, since she was the only direct family we had left. Renee was 10 at the time, so we lived with her for 8 years until my sister was of legal age to have custody of me. Let's just keep it at that she was anything but a loving aunt.

When our father died, Renee said that she was heartbroken, and devastated that both of her parents had been taken in such a short amount of time. However, she was determined to take care of me to the best of her abilities. So when she turned 16, she got her GED and dropped out of school to work full time as a waitress, saving most of the money she got. Because of that, when she finally turned 18, she was able to buy a cheap condo in Philadelphia for us to live in, near a community college that she intended on going to. Fast forward to now, I had gotten kicked out of almost every school in the state, and dropped off in New York at Yancy Academy with a single mission:

“Don’t get kicked out!”

One that I intended to follow through with.

I shook my head, trying to clear it from any frustration I was feeling. I began to walk towards the door that led to the sitting area outside, but after a few steps I realized something.

Why was it lunch time already? We had just got here.

“Uh, Mr. Brunner?” I began, until I turned around and saw that he was no longer there. He had a strange habit of this, disappearing in a matter of seconds despite being restrained to a wheeled, metal machine.

I looked at the wristwatch I had decided to wear today, to see that it was a whole two hours since we’d got to the museum.

“What the hell?” I asked myself in disbelief. I wouldn’t have believed it, until I began to feel a strange poking sensation in my stomach. One that within seconds had evolved to a small pain. I was hungry.

Woah, this was getting really weird.

Regardless of that really strange time skip I’d just experienced, the fact that I was hungry wasn’t just gonna go away, so I decided to go out to where the rest of my class was supposed to be eating lunch. Once outside, I quickly found my class apart from the students visiting from other schools. I spotted Grover and sat next to him, pulling out the terrible bagged lunch we’d got from the school cafeteria.

“Grover, how long have we been here?”

He looked at me with a mouth-full of sandwich and what looked like some of the foil wrap mixed in. “I don’t know, like an hour or two?” He pointed at my wrist with his gaze. “You’ve got the watch, smart guy.”

I flipped him off, and began to unwrap my turkey and cheese sandwich from the wrap, like an actual normal person. “Bite me, it doesn’t work. I think I need some new batteries.” This was all so weird. A clap of thunder crashed overhead, and within minutes grey clouds began to loom above in the sky. It looked dangerous, but no one seemed to react to it.

I didn’t either, since I was eating and and trying to come up with some logical explanation for my time skip. I wasn’t able to sit in my thoughts for long, since Nancy and her goons decided to walk up to Grover and I, with evil intent in their eyes. Bobofit stood in front of us with her tupperware container full of half-eaten food in her hand, before dropping all of it onto Grover’s head. “Oopsy daisy,” she said with an ugly grin on her face.

To be honest, I still don’t remember what happened next. All I remember was her standing over my drenched friend, while her cronies laughed like she had just finished the main joke of her Comedy Central routine. Red filled my vision, as I felt my ears heat up and my knuckles pop from how hard I clenched my fists. 

Then, my ears popped. Immediately after that, a spoon flew up from her tupperware and directly into her eye. “Ouch!” Her hands flew to cover her face. “Percy cut me with a spoon!” she screamed, her voice sounding like it was about to break.

Suddenly, I felt a gust of wind brush against me as Mrs. Dodds flew in for the rescue. She quickly crouched down to her level, and brought her embrace. “Oh it’s okay, baby. Let me check.” Nancy nodded, which prompted Mrs. Dodds to back away. The former allowed her hands to fall from her face, causing everyone outside to gasp or groan. Blood was streaming from the white of her eye, as if the spoon had nicked it. The devil of a teacher turned and gave me a death glare.

“I didn’t do it!” I said with my hands up. “I swear to God, I didn’t touch her.”

Mrs. Dodds didn’t say anything, but instead gestured for me to follow her. “Come with me, sweetheart,” she said with venom in her voice.

I gulped, and followed in pursuit of my pre-algebra teacher, who was practically running back into the museum. I looked behind me to see Grover with a terrified look on his face, before turning back around to walk to my death sentence. Mrs. Dobbs slammed the door shut, and led me to the same Greek gallery as before. However, it was now completely void of life, with no visitors in sight at all. 

Mrs. Dobbs crossed her arms, as she scanned me up and down. Why did she seem so much bigger all of the sudden? “You’ve really been an annoyance to me, Perseus.”

My eyes widened, being called by my formal name despite never telling her it. “Um, I understand ma’am,” I said, trying my best to get out of this situation with as many limbs connected as possible.

Mrs. Dodds looked at me with an amused look. “Did you really think I was dumb enough to not notice what you did back there, traitor?”

My eyebrows slanted, since the question she asked was phrased quite strangely. “Excuse me?”

Her grin turned to a sinister smile, as her teeth and fangs appeared to lengthen before my eyes. “Your time to die is now.” 

Her skin shriveled up and disintegrated, being replaced with terrifying, leathery skin. Her eyes seemed to melt away into smoke, revealing two balls of fire for eyes. She grew to a height of at least ten feet, making all her clothes rip and fall off of her, allowing for me to her unearthly, muscular demon body.

I felt my heart sink, and fall through the back of my ass. My pre-algebra teacher Mrs. Dodds had turned into a horrifying monstrosity; a bat demon, with talons nearly as big as me and wings so large it made the room dimmer. I blinked a few times to make sure my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me. I rubbed my eyes and slapped myself in the face to try and wake up from whatever sick dream this could’ve been.

“I’m real, you little shit,” she confirmed, her voice making the hair on the back of neck stand.

Without giving me time to respond, the bat demon flew into the air and towards me at the speed of a car on a highway. I screamed in terror, while diving to the right. “Instead of killing me, can you just assign me more detention?!”

Mrs. Dodds didn’t need to answer, since her next attempt at cutting my head off was answer enough. She soared back around, and swiped at my head. I got to my feet right before, and grabbed the Demeter statue I had landed near, hiding behind it. Her swipe came, which caused an ear-wrecking screech to be heard as her claws dragged against the granite. I fully expected the statue to be split in half by the katanas Mrs. Dobbs had for claws, but thankfully, it did not.

Suddenly, I heard a woman’s voice echo in my head: Do not worry my child, you will not die today.

I had never heard the voice before, but I did recognize it strangely, the feeling resembling that of a deja vu moment. I felt a strange connection to it that tugged at my gut. “

I’m glad you think that, but things aren’t looking too hot for me!” I screamed rolling under a cloth-set table, dodging the head of the Hades statue being thrown at me.

All of the sudden, an image of a man came to my head. A man that was very muscular, very pale, and very emo-lookin. His black shoulder-length hair had bangs that covered most of his forehead, and he had black eyes that looked like small holes that led to an abyss. He wore this long, flowing black robe that seemed to shimmer and shine when your eyes moved along it. Imagine yourself as this man, child, and cast this beast away.

My jaw dropped. What was going on with me? “What!?”

LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER!

The mystery woman’s voice exploded in my mind, with its fragments bouncing around repeating that single line over and over. A number of different memories flooded into my mind, the most interpretable being one of a young-looking woman kissing a small baby in her arms, before putting him gently into a shoebox, and disappearing in a cloud of fog. 

The baby was, you guessed it, me. And the fog lady? My supposed mother.

My nerves were shot, and I sat under the table for a moment in a frozen state of shock, regardless of the fact that the bat demon was still flying around the room looking for me. 

“What does this mean?”

Suddenly, a rush of energy flowed throughout my entire being, allowing me to relax immediately. 

For right now, just do what I ask of you. Think of yourself as this man. The image of the man reappeared.

Once you do, order this beast back to her home, using this voice. The voice this time was masculine; one that was deep, but almost seemed slimy, like one of a child predator. My “mother” must’ve known that I was a renowned impersonator of voices and accents.

The whole appearance thing though, I had no idea what she was talking about. Regardless of all that, I nodded. “I’m ready,” I said, using the weird rapist voice. For some reason, it sounded really good.

Strangely good. Like way too good for it being my first test trial, it sounded just like him.

A bit oilier. She said, clearly not agreeing with my assessment. Like before, an image in my mind was projected of the man.

I thought of myself standing in front of a mirror, picking out the different features of my body that had to change. First it was the hair, then the skin, then the eyes, and so on after that. Every feature I changed resulted in a strange tingling sensation on that section of the body. Then, after adding the clothes onto my new form, I felt the tingling stop. I opened my eyes, and before I could even see if it worked, the table I was hiding under was lifted clean off the ground. Mrs. Dobbs lifted it over her head, and looked down at me with a smile that totally said: “I’m hungry.”

Then, her face changed. “Master?”

My eyes widened. Did it actually work? I looked at my hands to see them not any paler, but instead twinkling a bit. I decided not to question it. 

“Um,” I started, trying to remember the voice I originally did, but adding some “oiliness” to it. “Yes!”

Wow, this was so freaking weird. Why did I sound so different?

Don’t question it.

Okay.

Tell her she’s been mistaken, and is attacking the sole son of Britomartis.

Huh?

“Um, you’ve been mistaken … uh-” Her name’s not Mrs. Dobbs, so …

Alecto.

“-Alecto!” I licked my lips. For some reason, the demon wasn’t catching on to the fact I had no idea what I was talking about. Instead, she was hunched over playing with her sword claws, trying to avoid eye contact with me like a dog who was getting chewed out for shitting on the floor.

“B-but, Master … I’ve found the son of the traitor,” she defended. It was kind of satisfying to see my bitch pre-algebra teacher scared to even talk to me, even when she didn’t know it was actually me.

But there was that term again, traitor. I would have to ask my “mother” what was up with that. “Well like I said, you’ve been mistaken! This is the sole son of Britomartis.” I almost slipped up on that name, I won’t lie.

I decided it would be strange if this imaginary child just disappeared, so I pointed over to another table on the other side of the room, this one with another table set of cloth covering underneath it. “He’s over there, unconscious from fear!”

Alecto looked over to the table I was pointing at, with a look of shame on his face. How would I had been able to make it all the way over there without her seeing me? Who knows? But it would appear that my pre-algebra teacher wasn’t the sharpest fang in the demon mouth.

“I’m sorry, Master.” She then looked back towards me. I gulped a bit, not liking how unnatural her flaming eyes looked. “But, if I may ask, why does Britomartis have a child? I thought she was a Hunter.”

Oh, god. Please don’t tell me I’m in an anime.

Tell her that Britomartis left the Hunt years ago, and that she has had a child. Since her children have never sensed before, she thought the scent had to be one of Hecate.

Hecate? Where did I remember that name from?

“Britomartis has been out of the Hunt for years, a-and has had a child since then. Her children have never been sensed before, which is why you mistook this child for one of Hecate.”

Mrs. Do- I mean, Alecto nodded. “I understand.” At least one of us did. “Does that mean that the son of Hecate is not here, and is still on the loose?”

Say yes, and tell her to return to the Underworld to continue investigating.

This really was an anime, wasn’t it. “Yes, he is. So I order you back to the Underworld, and to continue investigating.”

She nodded, and waved her hands around, creating what looked like a portal behind her. “I understand, Master. I will meet you back at your castle,” she said, turning around to walk in.

NO!

The screaming voice in my head almost blew my eardrums from the inside out, if that’s even possible. “No!”

Alecto turned back around, with a confused look on her face. “Master?”

Tell her you will inform Britomartis on her son’s discovery, and tell her of his strong scent.

That sounded really gross. “I need to inform Britomartis that her son was discovered, and that he was a particularly strong scent.”

The demon nodded. “Very well, I will work on my own for now. I’ll see you tonight, Lord Hades,” she said, walking into the portal, allowing it to close right after.

Lord Hades, Hecate, and the Hunt.

It finally clicked: Greek mythology.

You can’t be serious.

I scanned the room quickly, and stopped when I found a large mirror on the wall across the room. I ran up to it, and was almost horrified by what I saw.

The same man that the lady had shown me in my head? I was him! At least, in the reflection I was. When I held my hand up to the mirror, my hand was still much darker than the pale one in the reflection. I was in absolute awe. Then, an idea sprang up in my mind. I quickly closed my eyes and thought of my face that I had seen in the mirror this morning while brushing my teeth. I thought of my original form; my tan skin, pure black hair, and purple eyes. The familiar tingling sensation found its way throughout my body, until it stopped. 

I opened my eyes, and saw the same Percy as before the encounter with the Alecto demon-lady. “What the hell is going on?”

Just go outside.

I nodded, beginning to get light-headed due to all the mental and physical strain I’d been through in the past few minutes. I clutched onto the nearby wall as support, and began to walk back outside. When I went back outside, I saw Mr. Brunner and Grover standing right in front of the door. The rest of my class was still eating lunch, including a strange blonde woman I’d never seen in my life. She was old enough to be one of my teachers, and for some reason seemed to be one as she was helping Nancy hold an ice bag to her eye.

The lady looked towards me and frowned. “I hope you gave him a strict punishment, Mr. Brunner!”

What. The. Fuck.

My jaw literally dropped, as I watched Mr. Brunner roll up to me. Without any warning, he began to check my hands and arms. He saw many floor burns that resulted from my diving and rolling, which were small sacrifices I was willing to take to not be turned into shredded cheese. “What happened?”

My head was spinning. “Well, a giant bat thing just tried to kill me, and in order to not get killed I had to convince it that I was its master, by literally turning into its master.” I took another breath. “So I have no idea.” I pointed at the lady. “Who is that?”

Grover and Mr. Brunner ignored me, and instead looked at eachother with concerned expressions.

“It’s time,” said the latter.

Mr. Brunner pulled out a golden ballpoint pen out of his jacket pocket. He handed me it. “You're about to experience a much bigger world than you could ever imagine, Percy. If you're ever in trouble, and I mean true, life-threatening trouble, pull the cap off that pen. Everything that has happened today, we will not speak of until the time is right, understand?” 

Grover nodded, but I was still confused. Why did he just give me a pen? “Mr. Brunner, I don’t know-”

“We will not speak of what’s happened today until the time is right.” He looked at me with an intense gaze. “Understand?”

Not at all. But he seemed to know what he was talking about. And since my “mother” hadn’t interjected to scream “NO!” at the top of her lungs, I guessed that what he was saying was trustworthy. “I understand,” I said, nodding my head.

He gave me a forced smile “Good. Percy, when we start heading back to the school I want you to take a flight home to Pennsylvania.”

My stomach dropped to my feet. Planes, me? No can do. “Mr. Brunner, I don't really feel comfortable-”

He held his hand up. “I understand how you feel about flying Percy, but it is vital that you go home to your sister as fast as possible and tell her of what happened here today.”

How did he know that? I was about to ask him, but decided if I didn't want my mind to be assaulted the way it had before, I would just ask later. “Yes sir. But what about me at Yancy?” The only reason I cared was because of the money that Renee had spent sending me here. After missing school for so many days, they expel you.

“I'll tend to that, don't worry.” He cleared his throat, and just like that his anxious tone was gone. “Anyways, let's head back, shall we?”

Mr. Brunner told everyone an unexpected thunderstorm was expected to begin at any moment, so we would have to go back to the school.

How exactly does that affect an indoor field trip? Don’t ask me.

Regardless of that, no one seemed to question it, and within minutes we were all boarded onto the bus. Me and Grover got into the same seats that we had sat in on the way here, and with that, we started our trip back to Yancy. 

I turned to Grover, who was looking straight ahead, his skin as pale as the white on his acne. “Grover, what’s going on?”

Instead of answering my question, he gave me an order. “Cover your ears and bite your tongue.” Before I could ask why, I saw Grover poke his fingers into his ear holes, and his jaw clench.

I looked ahead too, with my eyes wide. I feel like a broken record by saying this, but seriously: What in the hell was going on.

Despite my confusion, I listened to Grover and covered my ears. I then clamped my teeth onto my tongue, allowing for a steady flow of pain to travel to my brain.

Almost immediately after this, Mr. Brunner yelled at the top of his lungs: “Sleep!”

The minute the word came out of his mouth, the bus driver a few seats ahead fell into the aisle, as well as most of the students on the bus. My eyes widened, as I realized we were about to fly off the road without a driver. Seemingly reading my mind, Grover jumped over me and ran up to the driver's seat, at a speed I’d never seen him move before. He sat down and grabbed hold of the wheel, before kicking off his shoes. What he revealed was a pair of black hooves, which definitely shouldn’t have fit in the shoes he was wearing. For about the hundredth time today, my jaw dropped in complete shock.

He groaned in relief . “Ah, much better. Airport, Chiron?”

I had no idea who he was talking to, and when I poked my head out into the aisle to ask him this question, I was introduced to the ass of a white horse. 

“Yes Grover, I'll deal with any security we run into,” said the horse, with the voice of Mr. Brunner.

I stood up from my seat. “Okay, what is going on?!”

The horse turned out to not be a horse. Instead it was a centaur, a half-man, half-horse. And predictably the half that was a man was, none other than, Mr. Brunner. He turned his head, and forced another smile.

“Your sister is going to have to explain a lot to you, let's just keep it at that.” He gestured towards the front of the bus. “We're behind schedule on getting you on that last flight to Pennsylvania. You said that you changed your appearance to tell Mrs. Dodds to stop attacking you, correct?” I nodded, confused as to what he was leading to. “Well, you need to do that again. Except this time, manipulating your voice.”

My eyes began to twitch as I tried to process everything that was going on. “But I don't have a ticket or money … or anything!”

Mr. Brunner put his arm on my shoulder. How exactly was he able to turn around his giant body? “It's alright, Percy. You have been born with the gift of being very persuasive. Whenever you want people to believe something, simply state what you want them to believe. Do it forcefully, and they'll do as you say.” 

I was about to say something, but he simply put a finger up. 

“You must believe me Percy. Your life is at risk, and you must do exactly as I say.” He looked at me with his intense gaze, one that was asking me if I understood.

I nodded. 

“When we drop you off, skip check in. After that, go directly to anyone who looks like they’re in charge at the security checkpoint. Tell them that you must skip the checkpoint.” He put a lot of emphasis on the “must” part.

I nodded in agreeance.

“Once you do that, run, and I mean run like you've never run before, to the gate where the flight to Philadelphia is boarding at. Once you’re there, and they start to get boarded, talk to the attendant at the stand. You tell them that you don't need a ticket, and you must get on the plane.”

I’d never been to the airport, so I may be wrong in saying this, but I really don’t think this is how it was supposed to go. Regardless of that, I still nodded in understanding.

Mr. Brunner nodded as well. “I will call your sister and tell her everything that’s happened, and to pick you up from the airport. Once you're on the plane, all we can do is pray that the Fates haven’t cut your string yet.” He let out a deep breath. “Did you catch everything?”

I gulped. “Probably not.”

Mr. Brunner sighed. “Well, you’ll be alright.”

So many questions whirled around in my mind:

Why was Mr. Brunner a centaur now? 

Why did Grover have hooves instead of feet? 

Why did all of the people on the bus other than me, Brunner and Grover fall asleep? 

Why was Grover driving the bus into an airport? 

How was I supposed to get on the plane without any money or a ticket?

How did Mrs. Dodds turn into a demon? 

Why did she call me Hades? 

What had I been drugged with?

A warm presence entered my mind, as the recognizable feeling of my “mother” was felt within my core. 

Don't worry my child, I will protect you.

Despite the fact that I didn't remember this woman at all, and wasn't even sure if she was really my mother, I sincerely believed that she would somehow protect me. Knowing that she was somewhere watching me, that made much of my anxiety and stress go away.

The rest of the busride passed with relative calmness, that is until Grover turned into the airport. We were greeted with dozens of cars honking at us, clearly upset that a yellow school bus was blocking majority of the road. Grover was getting flustered as well, evidenced by his honking in response. “Get out of the way!”

Mr. Brunner walked to the front, and pointed Grover to the terminal where the my airline’s passengers were entering. After a few more minutes of squeezing through traffic, Grover stopped the bus in front of the baggage check-in. 

He looked at me and smiled. “I guess this is your stop, Perce.”

I took a deep breath and stood up. “I guess it is.” I looked at my Latin teacher. “I have no idea how you’re a centaur, but I want to thank you Mr. Brunner.”

He looked at me a bit amusingly. “Why is that?”

“You always believed in me when no other teacher has before. So thank you.”

My teacher smiled, and pointed to the side of his head. “You’ll always be able to accomplish anything you put your mind to, Percy. Just remember that.” He put a hand on my shoulder. “I believed in you because I know you’re capable of a lot, more than you could ever imagine.” 

I nodded my head, and began to walk off the bus. I awkwardly squeezed past Mr. Brunner’s giant horse frame, and walked down the bus’s steps. 

“Grover and I will see you again very soon.” He said, waving along with the goat man. “Oh, and Chiron’s the name.”

I whipped back around, as the name finally clicked in my head. “Wait, you mean-”

But before I could finish, Grover slammed the bus’s doors shut, and raced off after getting yelled at by the traffic cop on the road.

The cop stopped the next wave of cars with the blow of his whistle, before taking it out of his mouth and looking at me. “A fucking bus, seriously?”

I shrugged, a bit embarrassed. “Don’t ask me, dude.”

After the words left my mouth, I turned towards the airport, marveling at the sheer size of it. I wondered if all airports were this big, or if this one was huge just because it was in New York. I had never entered one, and had never planned on doing so until today. My heart began to bang against my chest, as the anxiety of remembering everything Chiron told me began to well up.

It’s okay, Percy. I will help you through, said my mother’s voice. I immediately nodded, and walked through the sliding entrance door.

The first thing I noticed when I entered the airport was how stressed everyone looked. Everyone looked like they were in a hurry, and wanted to get done with whatever they were doing as quickly as possible. I looked to my right and saw that there were dozens of lines of people, with a giant sign hung above them that read: “Check-In.”

The presence of my mother quickly entered my mind. Ignore the lines, follow that one woman who just got her ticket.

I caught sight of the woman she was speaking of. She had her hair up in a messy bun, had a crazed look in her eyes, with a sweatshirt and sweatpants on. She had luggage dragging behind her with wheels in one hand, while she held her boarding pass in the other. I caught up to a safe distance behind the woman, and began to follow her.

The woman eventually led me to another line, this one kept inside a maze of bollard stands. The line led to a group of officers that stood by conveyor belts, and a machine that looked like a giant x-ray. There were three other lines as well.

Do you see that woman over there, talking to those people? I looked down one of the lines, and saw an officer laughing with a group of people. Get her attention, and do as Chiron told you to do. 

I briskly walked over to the line the officer was in charge of, and began to wave my hands to get her attention. “Excuse me, ma’am!?”

She looked over at me, before saying something to the group of people that made them laugh. She made her way over to me, her hands on her hips. “What is it, sweetie?”

I remember what Chiron had said, and put on an emotionless face. In the most serious tone I could muster, I said: “I need to get past this security now. Lead me past them.”

When nothing happened, I began to panic. She looked confused at first, until her face turned to one that was blank. 

“If you say so,” she said, resembling the tone of the Google translate bot. She lifted the belt that separated the two of us, and gestured for me to follow her. I did, and saw everyone in line watch us in confusion. Meanwhile, the people who had been standing near me in line had clearly heard as well, since they all had blank expressions on their faces too, and were nodding like idiots.

The officer led me behind the conveyor belt, and past the one in charge of the x-ray machine. He turned around and looked at the two of us, confused. 

“What’s going on here?” he asked the woman.

She glared at him. “Don’t worry about it, he’s with me.”

The look of death in her eyes seemed to be enough, since he looked at her strangely, but still nodded. “Sheesh, fine.” He turned back around, and motioned for the next person to walk through.

After making it through the entire security checkpoint, she smiled at me dumbly. “Is that all?”

I nodded. “Yes, you can go back to work.” She nodded, and began to walk back towards the checkpoint. “Oh, and you don’t remember any of this by the way.”

She turned back towards me, and nodded again. “Yes, I will go back to work.” She nodded a third time. “And I don’t remember any of this that just happened.” With that, the officer walked back towards her station.

My mind was swirling, but I still revelled at my newfound powers. “This is so sick! I can literally get anyone to do anything!”

Don’t get ahead of yourself, Percy. Even the Mist has its limits.

That was another strange term, the Mist. It began to seem more and more like I had somehow found my way into a new world, and was expecting to wake up at any moment and find that I was back in my bedroom at Yancy.

My mind stopped creating these thoughts when a surge of pure relaxation spread throughout my body. Do not worry about all of this, Percy. You will have time to learn about this new world of yours soon. For now, find the gate of your flight. I believe the gate leaving to Philadelphia is Gate C-04.

I nodded, before running to a giant sign that showed the layout of the entire airport. I spotted the wing that the C gates were on, and began towards it. I ran for about five minutes; up some escalors, around some crowds of people, and through some tunnels until I reached Gate C-04. They were currently boarding, with luckily only a few people left. I got in line, and thought of what I needed to say to convince this man that I didn’t need a ticket.

When I walked up to the desk that the attendant was standing at, he smiled at me. “Hey little guy, lost your mommy?”

God, did everyone think that I was like six or something? “I need to get on the plane now. I don’t have a ticket, and I don’t need one.”

Like with the security lady, it appeared to not work at first. His expression turned to one that was amused, until his eyes turned cloudy and his face relaxed into a dull expression. “Sure thing, right this way,” he said, gesturing to the tunnel that led to the plane.

I walked onto the plane, and after a bit of hassle found a seat in the back by the bathroom. I would be sitting next to a mother and her baby, which I heard was always enjoyable to deal with. Regardless of how noisy the flight was promised to be, the entire experience had been exciting, mostly because I had never done it before.

It was probably also because I was doing it all without having to pay a dime.

“Finally,” I said under my breath. “Home free.”

I wouldn’t be so sure about that, my child.

My eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. “Why’s that?”

My mother sounded like she sucked her teeth in annoyance. Talk into a phone or something so it doesn’t look like you're a schizophrenic.

I looked around carefully. 

“I don’t have a phone,” I whispered.

She seemed to get more aggravated. Think about having a phone in your hand then, and it’ll appear.

So just like before with Mrs. Dodds, I thought of a regular iPhone and how it would look in my hand. After a few seconds, nothing happened.

It’s there, you just can’t see it since you’re immune to the Mist. Most mortals can’t see through it, as well as a lot of demigods.

I put the invisible phone up to my ear. “Okay, so I’ve developed a little theory, and I wanted to ask you to see if I’m right.”

I’m pretty sure I know what you’re going to ask, and yes it’s true, she said in a bored tone.

“So I’m living in a world where Greek Mythology is real?” I asked.

Quiet down, people are going to think you’re insane. And yes, you’re right. And before you ask how, and why no one ever told you before, you have to wait until your sister can explain. 

“Why can’t you answer my questions?”

Because, I’m risking you being caught by Zeus and being blown out the sky the longer I communicate with you. 

I laughed even though I shouldn’t have. It was just so bizarre to think that the Greek god of lightning wanted to murder me. “Fine, but answer this one question, then I’ll leave you alone.”

Go ahead then.

I bit my lip. “Well, it’s more like two questions, but the first one leads to the second.” She didn’t say anything, so I took it as a cue to continue. “Are you a goddess?”

My mother laughed, and I smiled as it sounded beautiful and genuine. Yes, I am a goddess. I am Hecate. The goddess of magic, witchcraft, and the Mist; which is the little thing that is allowing you to have your way with these mortals.

I nodded. “Okay, so second question: Where have you been all my life?”

The happy vibe I felt from her seemed to dwindle, as a more somber one began to form. Percy, there is something called the Ancient Laws that us deities must follow. The Olympians don’t really follow them, but us minor gods and goddesses are required to, or we may be thrown into Tartarus. You know what that is don’t you? 

I nodded. 

Well, one of the Ancient Laws is that gods and goddesses can never interact with their demigod children’s lives directly. Of course, there are loopholes in this. A small laugh was heard in his head. Do you remember when your principal in fourth grade wanted you to be put in boot camp, and he was planning to call your sister, but never did?

I smiled. “You made him not call her.”

She hummed. That I did. I’ve done stuff like that many times throughout your life, all of them subtle, so your life could be as easy as it possibly could. However, my children always have been the ones to get caught up in the wrong type of trouble. So that's why you still got expelled half the time. 

I don’t know if it was her using the Mist on me, or if I really was this much of a Mama’s boy, because every word she spoke to me, I believed wholeheartedly. Then again, maybe it was just the women in my life, since my sister was known to have a similar effect on me.

I love you very much, my son, and I’m sorry that I could not be with you. But it was against my will, always. I felt the familiar wave of relaxation wash over my body, this time with what felt like a hand on the back of my head. You must remember that although I may not be with you always, you can count on me to watch over you and to do anything to help you. 

I jolted forward in my seat a bit, as the plane began to move forward. I will talk to you after the flight, my child. I must try to disguise you as a normal morta,l so Zeus does not murder you like he has the rest of your family. Her presence then disappeared, making me feel a bit emptier.

Not only that, but the last comment she had made stuck in my head. Was it really Zeus’s fault that my family had so much bad luck with flying? It would make sense, seeing as he was the god of the sky and all. He probably would know if someone he didn’t like was flying in his domain. But then again, why did he hate my mother?

I decided that if I was gonna die, I was going to make sure I was asleep while it happened. So after the very unenjoyable takeoff, I closed my eyes, with the intention of falling asleep. After a few minutes, I felt myself finally begin to drift in and out of consciousness.

The second I fell asleep, I began to feel wind blow all around me. I opened my eyes to see that I was no longer on a plane, but instead dressed in black priest robes with a hood on my head. I looked around to see that I was a part of a circle of other priests, kneeling before a large glass jar full of blood. Inside the jar I saw what looked like a giant ball of human flesh, floating in the red liquid. We appeared to be on the top of a rather large mountain, where the wind around us howled and swung about erratically.

All of the sudden, all the priests began to hum loudly and sway back and forth. I watched in awe as the jar began to shake on its own, with the blood inside boiling and bubbling. The clouds in the sky began to circle around, as the wind began to pick up even more than it had before. 

The priests began tohum louder.

Suddenly, the weather changed in an instant, as it began to snow, rain, and hail all at once. A mini tornado formed above our heads, causing the wind to almost pick me up from its sheer strength. 

Then, from the blackened clouds above, a single ray of light broke through. 

All the priests stopped humming immediately, as they all raised their hands towards the ray of light. From the light formed a person, one with long, flowing white hair, and dressed in a white robe. He was smiling as he descended towards the Earth, until his eyes landed on mine. He frowned, and with a swipe of his hand I was catapulted from where I was. Off the mountain I went, the man’s pale eyes watching me fall to my death.

Or so I thought, for as soon as I was meant to hit the ground, I jolted up in my seat on the airplane. I looked around to see that I was still with the mother and her baby, who were both looking at me strangely. 

I smiled awkwardly. “Heh, bad dream.” I felt a relieved sigh leave my lungs.

What did I just see?

As soon as I asked myself that, a ding was heard. “Attention passengers, we are going to begin our descent into Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We are experiencing some unexpected turbulence, so if you could fasten your seat belts, and hold on to any loose item-” 

Before he could finish his phrase, a flash of light blinded my sight, and a large clap of thunder was heard. My ears rang, and my vision was filled with white. I rubbed my eyes frantically, and blinked multiple times. My vision somewhat returned, allowing me to see through balls of light and blurriness. My horrifying suspicions were confirmed when I saw that the front half of the plane was completely gone, and that the half I was sat in was spinning uncontrollably in the sky.

Soon my hearing came back as well, as I was greeted to muddled screams and cries of the remaining passengers. I looked to my right in horror to see that the mother I was sitting next to was missing, and that her baby was all that remained, their booster strapped to the inside seat. The baby was wailing at the top of its lungs, frantically trying to find anything to hold onto.

I wanted to save this baby; I would die saving it if I was able to. “Mother! Help us, please!”

I felt her presence enter my mind. Dammit! Okay, I have an idea, but it may hurt a bit.

I saw people in the seats around me being flung from their seats, as the grass of the Earth looked to be getting closer and closer. I held the baby’s booster seat down, and nodded to myself. “Please, just do it!”

Suddenly, I heard the voice of my mother begin to whisper things very softly, but fast enough that I wasn’t able to pick up on what she was saying. A purple aura began to radiate from my hands and arms, before spreading throughout my body. She began to get louder and faster as the ground got closer and closer.

I looked at the baby one more time, and decided that it was a boy. At least, his superhero-themed pajamas made me believe that he was. For some reason, I really wanted to ask him what his name was, and about his favorite superhero.

Then, I saw nothing but black.

***** β *****

**Please leave a comment giving feedback!**


	2. An Opening of Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hecate and Percy have a little chat, where she explains to him the truths of the world.

**Disclaimer: All characters not created by me are owned by Rick Riordan.**

***** β *****

You know, the whole white light thing always seemed way too cliche to be true, but complete darkness while still retaining my thoughts wasn’t something I’d substitute for it. 

Especially if I was like this for the rest of eternity.

Umm, I thought to myself. This is kinda weird. I wonder if I can talk.

I decided to try it out. “Testing.” It worked, but it was a really weird feeling. It was as if I was speaking, but instead of it coming out as sound, it came out as words that ran through the inside of my brain.

And yes, I know that’s what thoughts basically are, you fucking asshole. But it was different.

“Um, hello?” I called.

“Yes Percy?” Asked the voice of my mother. She sounded a lot closer to me now.

“What happened?” I asked. “Am I dead?”

She laughed. “No honey, you aren't dead.”

“Well, how come I can't see anything?”

Mother didn't respond for a few moments. “Because your body was destroyed in the crash.”

Fuck, so that did still happen. “Then how come I can talk, and think, and do everything I could do before?” Minus physical stuff, I guess.

“Well you see,” she began. “Since you’re my child, and I’m the goddess of sorcery, I was able to trap your soul when your body was destroyed.” A few more seconds of silence passed. “Normally, you would’ve gone to the Underworld to face Hades. But, since me and him aren’t currently seeing eye to eye, you would have most likely been sent to the Fields of Punishment.”

That didn’t sound like a fun place. “What is that?”

“It’s a region of the Underworld. It’s where those who committed terrible sins while they lived spend their afterlife,” said my mother.

Well, I didn’t think I was that bad of a guy. “So I did die.”

Mother seemed to wave the comment off. “What is death but a word?”

I thought about replying with a snide comment, because that phrase totally deserved one, but I refrained.

Also, if I was being honest, I really didn’t want to know of the fate of the poor baby boy I sat next to on that plane. 

“So what am I supposed to do? Now that I'm a spirit, or whatever.”

“You won't be one for long. I still need you to be alive.” I was about to inquire about that statement, but her words cut off mine. “It's time for the prophecy to be fulfilled, whether Zeus likes it or not.”

Prophecy. Sounded like something I wanted absolutely nothing to do with. “What is this prophecy?”

She sucked her teeth. “You’ll learn soon enough. By the time you’ve heard it a thousand times like I have, you’ll wish that you never asked about it in the first place.”

I didn’t like to be treated like a baby when it came to stuff like this. My sister always did it, and it always bothered the hell out of me. But then again, this was my mother, as well as a vigilante goddess, so maybe she was right.

“Alright then, what happens now?”

“What happens now is the recreation of your body,” said Mother. “It’s a method forbidden by the laws of old. But hey, we’ve already broken most of those, why not a few more?”

My body was going to be made again? “Have you ever done that before?”

“Well, no.” That made me feel great. “But I most certainly can. With magic, you can do anything.”

“Even become as powerful as Zeus?” I asked, mostly as a joke.

I don’t think she took it as one, though. “Probably. I would never know. My magical capabilities have been limited ever since the Olympians came into power.”

“So what happened when the gods took over?” I asked, interested in what I’d learned so far.

A small sigh was heard. 

“When my brothers and sisters, the titans, were defeated, I was to initially be thrown into Tartarus along with them. That is, until I swore my allegiance to the Olympians. As a part of our alliance, I taught them how to manipulate and use the Mist, and gave them the power to use all types of magic on Olympus. It was then when they realized how much power I truly had, and how easy it’d be for me to take over.” Her voice got low, and heavy, as her frustration and anger became soaked in her words. “Because of this, they drugged me while I slept, chained me hostage, and forced me to swear upon the most sacred oath that I’d never betray them.” 

She then paused, and let out a humored scoff. “And let me just say, what I’m doing now definitely wasn’t in the fine print.”

I was now more confused. “But wait, aren’t you still under oath?”

I could practically hear my mother smiling at my comment. “Everyone thinks I am. But,” she paused again. “Zeus and I are some of the only people on this Earth who know the truth of an oath. What many don’t know is that an oath must be renewed on every winter solstice.” 

I was about to ask why that was, but she seemed to predict it. 

“The winter solstice is the day that every god and goddess comes to Olympus for a huge council meeting. It’s a symbolic and important day to us, and even Hades, who is an outcast to Olympus, is expected to come.”

“So what happens to an oath if it isn’t renewed?”

“Then it is null and void. A prime example of this is the Pact of the Big Three. It was an old oath that was sworn between Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades after World War II.” She paused, perhaps catching a quick breath. “You’ve learned about it, yes?”

“World War II?” I’m guessing she nodded. “Yeah, I had to do a presentation this year on the Manhattan Project. It kind of sucked.”

“Yeah, it did suck. And at the head of all of it were the sons of Hades, Zeus and Poseidon. Hitler-Hades, Roosevelt-Zeus, and Churchill-Poseidon.” 

This really didn’t seem real. This whole Greek mythology thing really was in our faces the whole time. 

“After the nukes were dropped on Japan and the war ended, the Big Three made a pact to never birth another demigod child, in order to prevent another World War from ever happening again. Of course, Zeus knew that it’d be impossible for him not to have sex with another woman again, so he didn’t tell anyone of the caveat that came with swearing an oath.” She paused. “Now we’re here, with both Poseidon and Zeus having demigod children roaming the Earth. No consequence whatsoever for breaking their oath.”

This was probably a little too much information to be taking in at once, but this was way too crazy to not hear the whole way through. “So wait, how do you know about it?”

A small laugh was heard. “Easy. Every year after the Winter Solstice meeting, Zeus makes me renew my oath. However, this winter he did not.”

“How come?”

“Because, it appears that someone has stolen his prized possession, the Master Bolt. The most powerful weapon ever created.” A small pause. “He was so upset, that he had forgotten completely about me and our little oath.”

Wow, that sounded almost too good to be true. “Is he that dumb?”

My mother gave a short laugh. “Not usually,” she admitted. “It seemed to have simply slipped his mind, for as soon as the meeting was over, he left in a hurry. Perhaps to search for it.”

A small fear crept into my mind. “Did you steal it?”

“The Master Bolt?”

I nodded my head, or intended to at least.

She still seemed to know what my answer was. “No, I haven’t. I also have no idea who’s taken it. All of it happened to just be incredible timing, something I’m not complaining about.”

Well, that was good. I still had an eerie thought poking at my mind though. “So, what will you do after you recreate my body? Will you betray the gods?”

“I already have. That is why Zeus wanted to kill you.”

If I was still breathing, a breath would have been held in anticipation. “What have you done?”

Her words darkened a bit in tone again. “Kronos and the Titans are rising to overthrow the Olympians, and he has offered me a high position in his army.” 

Fuck.

“And I have taken it-”

FUCK.

“-for he has promised you and I both sanctuary if they are victorious.” 

Oh, that wasn’t too bad.

My mother continued. “But, he still thinks that I’m under my oath to Zeus, and also believes that you have died. So, Kronos has promised that he will allow me to resurrect you if the Titans win.”

I was as confused as ever now. “So … why lie to him?”

She was silent for a few seconds once again. “Because, you will aid the Olympians in the upcoming war I’m speaking of.”

My jaw dropped to the floor, metaphorically speaking. “What?! They’ve done nothing but try to kill me!” I began to stammer a bit. “A-And from what I hear, they’ve done nothing except treat you like trash. Why should I help them?”

I practically saw my mother holding her hand up, telling me to calm down. “It is quite alright. Only calm down, and I will explain my reasoning.” 

I nodded in my head in agreement, trying to tone down the theatrics. “Nah, I’m cool.”

“Okay, the Olympians are bad, that’s true. But there is a reason they are still in power, while the Titans are not. Sure, they treat those in their immediate family well, but Kronos will without a doubt order all humans to be exterminated, as well as all demigods who oppose him.”

Okay, that made sense. But that suddenly made the whole “I’m joining Kronos” thing really weird.

“Soooo what’s the point of joining them then?!”

Like everything else, she had another answer. “Because, if Kronos does take over, I’ll be sure that you and I are both safe.” This Kronos character didn’t really seem like one to trust, but like she had a few minutes ago, she answered my doubts perfectly. “Kronos has never done me wrong, as well as any children I’ve ever had.”

When I heard the comment, I couldn’t help but smile, metaphorically speaking. “You would do that, for me?”

Mother laughed. “Of course I would. You’re my last son in this world, the gift your father granted to me.”

Wow, that sounded poetic. My dad must’ve been a dog while he was alive. 

Then suddenly, I remembered the last thing my mother had said before my plane ride. “Wait, you said to me that the reason so many people in my family have died in crashes is because of you. How is that if you just now broke that oath you had?”

Mother didn’t speak for a few moments. “Well, I have upset Zeus on more than one occasion.”

“How’s that?” I asked.

I pictured my mother blushing from the question I asked. “Well, when I met your father I stayed with him for a few months of my pregnancy, when it would’ve been impossible to hide. Zeus asked why I was absent from Olympus, so I lied to him, and told him that I was simply experimenting with the Mist, which I do away from Olympus from time to time.”

Zeus really was starting to sound like the domineering father every daughter hates growing up. Except the daughter in this scenario was an immortal witch.

“Despite my best efforts, he still found out that I was pregnant, and that I had been staying with your father. He was furious at first, but he hid it very well, pretending to not care about it. That front went away fast though, since just a few days after your second birthday, your father took a business trip via flight, and crashed due to a lightning storm.”

Wow. It was wild to hear the truth about my father’s death in a way that was familiar, yet so bizarre. It certainly wasn’t making siding with the Olympians any more compelling.

Mother continued. “I was very upset, but alas there is not much I can do to the king of Olympus.” Another pause, this one about half a minute. “As for Renee’s mother, that was simply bad luck.”

“Okay, so let me get something straight,” I started. “You’ve joined Kronos and I’ve joined the Olympians. So regardless of what happens, we both win. I got that. But if Kronos does win, won’t he be like, ‘Wait a minute Hecate, your son fought with the Olympians, I can’t let him live.’ Then he would do an “Off with his head!”, or something like that.”

My mother snapped her fingers. “See? You’re much smarter than you lead on to your teachers.”

Yeah, cuz my teachers are cucks and bitches.

“Therefore, today is the last day that you are my son!”

“Uh … huh?”

She said a few things under her breath then paused. “Your eyes are the same as mine, right?”

I didn’t respond. “Umm.”

“Oh, you can’t see me.” She laughed a bit. “Well, they’re purple.”

“Oh, then yeah.”

“Okay then,” she said, resuming to whisper so quietly that I couldn’t pick up any of the words. Suddenly, instead of the black I was getting used to, a white light completely overcame my vision. 

After a few seconds, my vision began to clear, until I was introduced to a woman smiling widely at me, standing in the middle of a dark, brick room. She had fair white skin, very dark hair, and purple eyes just as mine. She had perfectly white teeth, long, silky black hair, and a face constructed beautifully by whoever created her. She was absolutely stunning, and even though I didn’t remember her, I somehow knew that this woman truly was my mother. 

“Fantastic! I thought I had forgotten the correct wording to create matter.” She then gestured for me to come over, which I did, despite still lacking a body. 

“Where are-”

My words were interrupted by the snap of her fingers, which caused a hole to rip through the very air in front of us. It appeared to be a gate of some sort, for in the hole showed a blue door.

I looked at it strangely. “That looks a lot like-”

“Yes, that is your apartment. We have to find a picture of you, so I can be sure your new face is constructed exactly as it was before. Where does your sister have a recent picture of you?” my mother asked.

“Well, there’s a bunch of pictures of me on her phone,” I said.

She nodded. “That will work.” Mother leaned towards the hole, and said. “Find Percy’s sister please.”

Some wind was heard, before suddenly the gate began to move. It turned downwards towards the bottom of the door, then shot down in front of the doorknob. After a moment of floating in front of it, the gate moved through the keyhole. Once they were in the house, they were introduced to a floor covered in grocery bags, some of them still full, as if someone had gone shopping but didn’t put them up. A few glasses were shattered as well, with some clear liquid leaking out of many of them.

“What the?” Had we gotten robbed?

That suspicion was thrown out the window when the window shifted upwards, revealing our dining room table. Sitting was a young woman with red hair, blue eyes, and tan skin. Grasped between her fingers was a cigarette, burning and leaking ash that landed peacefully on the table below it. She had puffy, moist eyes, and was holding a picture of me as a young boy.  
  
My eyes widened. “What’s wrong with Renee? She never smokes.”

My mother looked at me as if I had grown a third eye. “She’s your sister, and she’s just found out that you’ve died. Why wouldn’t she be grieving?”

“Oh. I kind of forgot that even happened.” Still, it made me feel terrible to see her like that. I just wanted to jump through the hole, put my arms around her, and tell her:

‘Hey I’m okay! I’m not dead, see?’

Mother didn’t respond, but instead continued to look intently through the window. She pointed to the table where Renee’s phone sat, which was across the room, charging. “There it is. One of you, go make a neighbor come over to share their condolences.”

More wind blowing was heard, before a black spot was seen flying towards the door, splitting apart from whatever was providing the visual of my home. After a few minutes, a knock at the door was heard. 

Renee looked surprised, but still stood up, placing the cigarette on the table, before slowly walking over to the door. When she opened it, waiting for her was an elderly woman, who seemed to hold a glazed look in her eyes. 

“Hello Renee.”

My sister wiped her eyes and smiled. “Hey, Mrs. Winchester. Is there anything I can do for you?”

Mrs. Winchester looked at Renee with a frown, before reaching forward and grabbing both her hands. “No sweetie, I just wanted to come over and say how terribly sorry I am about your little brother.”

The window that my mother and I were looking through turned back towards Renee’s phone. Within seconds they were looking directly above it, just a few inches from the screen. 

Mother frowned. “Move back a bit, please.”

They did, allowing us to see the screen in its entirety. Suddenly, it turned on, revealing an array of numbers from 1 to 9 and wording on the top that read: “Enter Passcode.” Below that was four empty circles, signifying that a four digit pin code had to be entered to unlock the phone.

Mother looked at me. “What’s the passcode?”

I racked my brain for a moment. “Um, I’m pretty sure it’s the year she was born. So that would be…” I did some math in my head for a moment. Maybe I should’ve paid more attention in Mrs. Dodds class.

After a few seconds, my mother scoffed. “You don’t know your own sister’s birthday?”

I flinched from her words. “I know it! Just not the year.”

She sucked her teeth, and leaned towards the window. “Put in 1996.” The number that she said was entered in that order, before being transitioned to the home screen. 

“Okay, good. Press on the camera icon.”

The camera app was selected, which led to the photo gallery. It took a few seconds to load, until finally an astounding 3,000 pictures loaded up. “Good lord, how can her phone have this much space?”

I shrugged, metaphorically speaking. “She has a good plan, so she can usually get a phone with a lot of storage.”

Whoever was providing the view of the phone scrolled through quickly, until it landed on a picture of me. It was on the day she was dropping me off at Yancy, me sitting in the passenger seat of her car with a blown up sad emoji next to my head. The caption read: “See ya next summer :’(“ 

My mother nodded. “That will work. Get your sister and come back.”

I was kinda confused if she was talking to me or not, but she seemed to still be talking to whatever was performing all these acts. When my mother said this, the woman who was at the door gave her goodbye. A few seconds later, the black spot from before came into view, before colliding into the gate we were looking through. Then, the visual disappeared, being replaced with a large clump of dark mass.

“What’s that?” I asked, only to see that my mother had disappeared.

My mother was doing something out of sight again, but still yelled out, “What?” I looked to where she was yelling from, to see a really old-looking door a few feet away from me, open.

“This uh … big floating ball of darkness.”

“Those are your siblings.”

My eyes widened. “What?”

“What I mean is-” she started, interrupting herself with a few whispers. “What I mean is, those are your siblings from the past. They are here to help you.”

I looked at the blob strangely. “So wait, they’re like … dead?”

“Why yes! That’s the reason that Hades is upset with me as well, and why the Fury was ordered to kill you.”

Damn, and I thought I had a lot of people who didn’t like me.

“I visited Persephone after the winter solstice, and while I was in the Underworld I asked many of them if they wanted to help in my plan. Most of them agreed, but when they were escaping, Hades tried to stop them. He ordered Cerberus to keep them from leaving, but we were still able to escape here.”

I chuckled a bit. My mom really was a troublemaker. “I guess you and Persephone aren’t friends any more.”

“Nah, she hates Hades. Hasn’t fucked him in years actually.” A few bangs were heard from the room she was in. “She’ll probably join the Titans soon.”

I eyed my weird shadow siblings. “Why aren’t they … you know, bodies or something?”

A few more crashes were heard. “Well, it went a bit messier than I had intended. I didn’t have time to send their bodies out of the Underworld as well, so simply their souls remain.”

I looked back at the black mass. Hopefully they weren’t jealous about me getting a new body, and not them. I decided to move to a new subject. “What even is this place?” I saw a huge spider walk across the ceiling, towards a few trapped insects. “It looks really old.”

“Because it is,” she called out. “Really cold too, as you’ll see in a second. This is a castle created by the Hekatonkheires, in Tartarus. Kind of a depressing place, but it’s where the Titans are mobilizing.” A bit of shuffling. “Also one of the only places on Earth the Olympians don’t have surveillance in.”

Tartarus? Holy shit. No wonder that spider looked unnaturally big.

Suddenly, I began to laugh, which I really shouldn’t have. “You’ve really pissed a lot of people off, huh?”

Unsurprisingly, my mother began to laugh as well. “Yup. Which is why our plan has to work.”

Our plan? “So you do have one.”

My mother walked out from the room, and nodded. “What needs to happen is you need to go home to your sister, and tell her everything that’s happened.” She pointed a finger at me. “Every detail.”

I nodded, metaphorically speaking.

“She’ll take you to Rhode Island, where a camp for demigods is at. You will manipulate the Mist, make your hair brown, and turn your eyes pink.” 

I was about to question the last two demands, but she put her hand up preemptively. 

“Let me finish. To make sure others don’t see through your Mist, I’ll teach you a simple spell that will make it impossible for anyone, including you, to see through it. You’ll also need to perform a spell to slightly change the pitch of your voice, to ensure that Chiron and your friend Grover don’t recognize you. You’ll stay at this camp until you receive word from me, where I’ll give you your next set of instructions.” She looked at me and smiled very forcefully. “You got all of that?”

My eyes were wide. “I’m not really sure.”

She sighed, then walked back into the same room as before. After a few minutes of more whispering, she walked back into the room, with a floating body. 

The same one I had on the plane. 

“Woah.”

It was really weird, seeing my body through something that wasn’t a mirror. It wore the same clothes I had that day too, a white Nike tee, ripped blue jeans, and a pair of dirty vans. My face was perfect too, making the experience that much stranger. That’s where the similarities ended, however. The body was a lot taller than it was before, while the two legs looked to be completely different lengths. My mother caught my eye and looked at her creation. “I guess it’s not as good as I thought. I need you to give it a test drive.”

Before I could ask her how I was supposed to do that, I blinked, and when my eyes opened, I was in the body. I looked down at my mother with a wild expression, where I saw her clapping enthusiastically. “Very good! Now, how tall were you when you were alive?”

I thought for a moment. “I think 5’ 1” is what the doctor said a week ago.”

She nodded, and walked in front of me. She whispered a few things, before touching the middle of my chest. Like that, I began to feel my torso and legs compress, as I watched my vision lower slowly, before stopping at a height slightly below my mother.

“Fantastic!” she exclaimed. “Now, hold out your arms.” 

I did as she instructed. She examined them for a few moments, before nodding and tapping on my right arm, which looked to be a bit too long. She whispered some more, until she snapped her fingers, which then caused my right arm to shrink to the same length as the other. 

“Now sit on your bottom, and lay your legs out.” 

Again, I did as she said. She noticed fairly quickly that my left leg was a bit shorter than the right one. A few seconds passed, some things were whispered, until finally all my limbs were proportional to one another.

I stood up, and walked around, realizing fairly quickly that it felt identical to my old body. “Feels pretty good. Are you sure all the respective organs are in here?”

My mother nodded, before snapping her fingers again, conjuring up a red, fluffy-looking chair to sit in. “Yes, that’s why it took so long. I had to make sure everything was perfect. I hope the health textbooks they give you kids nowadays are reliable.”

I gulped. “I hope so too.”

She sank into the chair and sighed contentedly. “Alright. We’re almost done.” She gestured over to the floating ball of mass. “Your siblings over there are going to be keeping an eye on you for me, since we won’t be able to speak as much now that I’ve moved here to Tartarus.”

My senses began to come back at this point, quickly confirming the claim of it being cold from my mother.

“Not only that, but they'll be able to give you a few pointers, and help you in your discovery of the arcane arts. They can only communicate with me verbally, but they are able to give you memories that will help you.” 

Mother snapped her fingers and gestured for the large blob that was my siblings to come over.

“They’ll have to tell you a few things that won’t be able to be communicated through memories, however. Therefore, I’ll be giving you a little present to make up for all the birthdays I’ve missed.” 

Right as she said that, she whispered a few things under her breath, ending with another snap of her fingers. When she did that, a white ball of fur landed in my hands that had somehow become outstretched without my knowledge.

I kind of freaked out, and stared at it in disgust. “What is that?!”

My mother sucked her teeth. “Maybe if you would spend more than two seconds looking at it you’d find out.”

Right as she said that, the ball of fur began to move around in my hands. I was about ready to throw whatever it was, until it turned around, revealing the small face of a puppy.

The puppy couldn’t have been more than a week’s old, for it couldn't have been bigger than my shoe. It's legs were tiny, while it’s head was huge, definitely unable to be picked up on their own efficiently. It's snout was long, and made its head resemble one of those palm-sized beach footballs. The ears that laid on the top of its head were folded, and its eyes were shut. It’s little black nose wiggled a bit as it lifted its head, beginning to smell whoever it was that was holding it. 

“You gave me a puppy?”

My mother rolled her eyes. “Clearly.” She walked over and scratched the puppy behind its ear. “Dogs are one of my sacred animals, and her mother was one of the best friends I had.” 

She smiled sadly. “Her mother was one of the first German shepherds ever, a sweet girl. When I betrayed Olympus, Zeus had people sent to my temple, where they murdered all the dogs that lived there. I promised her mother that I would protect her last puppy, so I am giving her to you.”

I looked at the dog in my hands, with wide eyes. The last of her kind, like me.

“Since her mother was blessed, she will grow very fast, andl be much more intelligent than any other dog alive. But, you’ll still need to care for her as her mother would have, at least for the first few weeks. After that, it should be like having any other dog.”

I nodded, and pet her head slowly, making sure not to scare or hurt her. “What’s her name?”

She shrugged. “That’s up to you.”

A few names came to mind, but I decided to do that later. “I’m not complaining, but how exactly is a puppy supposed to help me?”

My mother looked at me and gave a devilish grin. “You’ll see.”

Suddenly, she took the puppy carefully from out of my hands. She whispered a few words and snapped her fingers, causing a full bottle of milk to appear in her free hand. Cradling the puppy in one of her arms, she shook the bottle and found her seat she’d conjured. After sitting down, she carefully led the nipple of the bottle into the mouth of the puppy. Within moments, its mouth was clamped around it, slowly sucking away at the milk. 

“Anyways, you’re going to need to learn your first spell. You ready?”

I nodded.

She smiled. “Repeat after me: Summone inter charta et pincello unum.”

My eyes widened. “Did you just speak Portuguese or something?”

She rolled her eyes. “It’s Latin. You didn’t even pay attention in Chiron’s class?”

I ignored the second part of her question. “Why Latin?”

She adjusted the bottle in the puppy’s mouth a bit, as some milk began to leak out the side of her mouth. “I created the latin language when I was trying to find a way to control magic, not just manipulate it.”

I decided to ignore the part where she said she created it, my mind had been blown enough for today. “You say it like it’s a living thing.”

My mother smiled. “In a way, it is. I spent almost a century learning all ways to use magic and how to control it. Now, almost all of it is binded to the Latin language.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Almost?”

She shrugged, though carefully so she would not wake the puppy. “Like I said earlier, the magic on Olympus was granted by me, so that type of magic is so simple it doesn’t need to be bound to a language.” She then tilted her head in thought. “Then, there’s Cosmic magic, which only Chaos can wield.”

“Chaos?”

“Chaos is the creator of the universe, and the father of the first Protogenoi. They are the first gods and goddesses, some of whom you may remember with your lessons with Chiron. One of them being the Earth, or Gaea. When he created the universe, he used a surge of magic that created all of the cosmos, as well as life itself.” 

She adjusted the puppy again. 

“His magic is what allows gods and goddesses to have their powers, and what keeps all the planets and stars from colliding into one another.” She smiled at me. “I believe you all call it, “gravity”. So yes, my binding of magic to the Latin language was accomplished with most, but not all.”

I nodded, trying to soak in all of the information I was receiving. “Alright, so basically what you’re telling me is that I have to learn Latin?”

Mother winked at me. “Precisely. Which brings me back to the first spell. Simply repeat after me.” 

She stood up straight, and gave me an encouraging nod.

“Summone inter charta et pincello unum.”

I thought about it for a moment, before repeating it slowly. After a few moments, nothing happened. “I did it.”

She frowned. “You have to concentrate while saying it, and say it a bit faster. And after you say it, snap your fingers. It marks the end of the spell.”

“What am I concentrating on? I don’t even know what I’m saying.”

“You’re summoning a piece of paper and a pencil.” She looked at me strangely. “Latin is one of the easiest languages to learn, you know. Especially when you speak English which steals most of-”

I waved my hands. “Alright, I got it.” 

I closed my eyes, then pictured a piece of notebook paper in my left hand, with a plain, number two pencil in the other. 

Wait, no. A mechanical pencil, number two pencils hurt my hand. 

A mechanical pencil in the other hand. 

Then, I took a deep breath. 

“Summone inter charta et pincello unum.”

Snap.

The second my fingers snapped, I felt the wind get taken out of my lungs, as I felt two things appear in both my hands. I opened my eyes to find exactly what I was thinking of: a sheet of notebook paper in my left hand, and a mechanical pencil in my right hand. 

My eyebrows rose into my forehead. “Woah.”

The puppy seemed to be full now, for my mother put the bottle on the floor, and was wiping the dog’s mouth clean with a rag she probably conjured up. The bottle, strangely enough, was still full. “Now that you have that, I need you to write a few spells out for me. Ready?”

I knelt down on the floor, and placed the paper down. “Yeah.”

“The first one is: Sicut species custodiunt.”

I faltered a bit. “You’re gonna have to spell that out for me.”

I expected for my mother to nag, but instead she nodded calmly. “Well, the first word Sicut is spelt S-I-C-U-T.”

Nodding, I clicked down on the eraser to make some lead appear. After a few clicks however, not even an inch of lead appeared. “Why did I make a pencil where there was no lead in it?”

My mother laughed suddenly, and shifted the puppy in her arms so that it would sleep more soundly. “You didn’t make anything. When you cast spells, you are simply manipulating reality, not creating it. When you cast a spell, you’re just making use of what already exists.”

She gestured outward with her free hand. “When you thought of a damn mechanical pencil, you probably transported one too you with no lead.” She mumbled a few words then snapped her fingers, resulting in a plain number two pencil appearing in her hands. 

“Here.” She tossed it to me. “You can never go wrong with a good number two pencil. Now write down the damn spell. The first word is spelt: S-I …”

After he had written down the entire Latin phrase onto the paper, he looked up and nodded.

“That spell will allow your Mist to keep you hidden from any god, as well as clear sighted mortals. The next spell you must write down is: Ad formam meum verum est. This will return you to your true form whenever you like. But remember, no one must know that you are my son except for those you trust.”  
  
I nodded. “Got it, super ominous warning.” 

She spelt that spell out for me as well, for which I was grateful for.

When I finished, my mother stood up, placed the puppy down in her chair, and walked back into the other room. She came back a few moments later with a giant book in her hand. She wiped the cover, and blew off any dust that was caked on the cover. 

“This is a Latin dictionary, translated into English for education. There’s also a grammar section in the back, which should help with the placement of words in sentences. The more fluent your Latin is, the more well versed you will be in the world of magic.”

She placed the book in my hand, which must’ve weighed at least fifty pounds. I adjusted the weight a bit, and nodded. “Got it.”

My mother gave a worried look. “Remember all can be achieved with magic, but knowing Latin isn’t the only thing you need to be a strong sorcerer. If you didn’t notice, which I’m sure you did, casting spells can take its toll on you.” 

She poked at the side of my torso. “The air getting knocked out your lungs? That’s completely normal for novices. To grow accustomed to spell casting, you’ll have to practice simple spells every day, until that feeling goes away, or you become immune to it.”

She walked over to her chair, before picking up the puppy as well as the baby bottle on the floor. She walked over to me, and adjusted my arm, placing the puppy in the crook of my left arm. In this hand was the baby bottle as well, so I could use all of my right arm to hold the book of bricks. 

“The puppy will only need her milk for the first month of her life, since all the nutrients she needs for now are in that blessed bottle.” She placed a hand on her small body. “As for her other needs, your siblings will help you with that.” 

After that, she stood straight, and smiled beautifully at me. “And this is where we say goodbye, my baby boy. At least for now. I will not see you again for many months I’m afraid, but do know that I will be watching over you and protecting you.” She looked at the puppy in my arm. “She will protect you. Dogs are the most loyal friend you will ever have, and they will never leave your side. Protect her, keep her safe, and she’ll do the same.”

I nodded. “I will mother.” I looked over her face once more, being sure to treasure it within my memory. 

Then, I felt a pressure build up in my heart, as a phrase escaped from my throat that I’d only ever said to Renee.

“I love you.”

My mother faltered for a moment, but after a few seconds she smiled widely, leaned forward, and planted a kiss between my eyebrows. I closed my eyes, and relished the feeling of my mother’s kiss, something I had experienced for the first time in my life. A sweet honey scent filled my nostrils, something that gave me a “déjà vu” feeling. 

She returned to her position, with her smile never leaving her face. “I love you too, Percy.” She took a step back and grasped my shoulders. “Please be safe my son. I don’t know what I would do if something happened to you.” 

With that, she closed her eyes, and began to whisper a long phrase. At first, it didn’t do anything. But as it continued, the room around me began to spin in place, until she snapped her fingers, bringing it to a stop. I faced the large blob of darkness that were my siblings, only a few inches from my face.

Then without warning, the mass shot towards me, entering my body through my mouth and nostrils. I collapsed on the floor, and began to shake involuntarily, as I felt crawling and scratching from within my throat and lungs. 

My vision began to darken, and when it was gone, I heard no more.

***** β *****

**If you didn't know already, I'm just reuploading chapters I have posted on FanFic.net**

**Still, please give some feedback, I want to respond to it in these author's notes.**

**Anyways, see ya!**


	3. Interlude: The Corruption of Hera

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another one of Zeus's children have been claimed, and Hera's had enough.

**Two short chapters coming up. These are gonna be small interludes coming from the perspective of two different settings within this world, so try not to be confused.**

**The Percy chapters are gonna be normal length though, don't worry.**

**Also, whoever guesses this POV gets a cookie.**

**Disclaimer: All characters not created by me are owned by Rick Riordan.**

***** β *****

I never was one for trusting people. Especially those who speak in the form of eagles and clouds. Larger than life figures with the power to destroy worlds and universes, simply with a snap of their figures. Those that are the most powerful beings to ever exist, yet still ask others to do their work for them.

It always seemed pathetic and strange to me, but who am I? I've always been a simple girl.

" _I have what you want!"_ they always said.

" _I need something done, I need some trouble stirred, and you love trouble!"_

It may have been sad to hear, but it was true. Any misfortune that comes across those who do not deserve it, brings me joy. It's the ray of sun that warms my dark heart. Hell, most of the time it's _me_ who brings the misfortune.

Why? Because I'm twisted, that's why.

I'm very good at it too, perhaps far _too_ good at it, like a master chef who prepares his signature dish. I take my time with it, respect the process, test the taste many times, before finally bringing it out to be seen.

And the wonderful thing was, the grander the dish, the easier it was for me! Plans would be whispered between others, be carried through the wind, and find its way to me; gods would come to me with their plans, the ingredients, allowing me to do nothing but what I was best at; the three hags would give me visions, ones of destruction, death, and angst, knowing that I would _relish_ in being the one to bring it to fruition.

But this dish, oh, it was going to be grander than anything I've ever been a part of.

To be quite honest, most of what the gods and others come to me with are idiotic pranks and jokes that they want done. It's usually when someone's upset them, but they don't want to be blamed. And I will do it, and they know that I will do it, because I do not fear the Olympians. For it's because of _me_ they still stand, and why they're in power in the first place. If not for me, they would have still been sitting together to this day, crying day and night as they burned in Kronos's stomach acid.

This new project, however, was much more dangerous than anything I'd ever done. Something, that if it weren't done precisely, would get us all thrown into Tartarus to rot with our ancestors for eternity. Unfortunately for the Olympians, I'm far too good at my job. And not only am I good at it, I'm in love with it.

A few months ago, on my annual pilgrimage to Mount Ida, I had been sitting at the mountain's peak, watching the ocean as the waves crashed against the shore's rocks. I reminisced on old times, thinking of when the world was clear of _true evil_ , and when my children and grandchildren roamed peacefully atop the Earth.

Then, wind began to swirl all around me, whipping my hair and the rags of my robe all about. I was about to walk back down towards the bottom, to set camp, until a voice came to me.

It said: "I was wondering if you wanted to help me with something, my dear. The Olympians you hate above all else, will be turned against one another, and destroyed."

I was genuinely curious as to who this man was, for I had never told anyone of my yearly pilgrimages.

So I said to this man, "What do you plan?"

He gave me three steps.

Three steps that would start the first Great War that we had seen in years. Stealing Zeus's Master Bolt wasn't one of them, no. But it would make things much, _much_ easier.

Step one: Turn Hera against her husband.

It was a bit ironic that Hera, the goddess of matrimony, would betray her husband, and be the one to end the reign of the Olympians. But, perhaps it was a long time coming, seeing the long history of Zeus's adultery.

And unpredictably, this one proved to be rather simple, for Hera had recently found out that another child of Zeus had made it to Camp Half Blood, all the way from Nevada. It was a feat that not many had achieved, so Zeus rewarded him by claiming the child as soon as he entered the safeties of the camp. And when he did, it caused Hera much distress and grief.

However, Hera was not the only one offended by the appearance of this child. Hades and Poseidon were also upset, for their younger brother had broken their sacred Oath once again. But, they did not say anything, for they had illegitimate children alive as well.

But this was far from the only reason they held resentment towards the King of the Gods.

Hades had held hate for his brother for a long time, ever since Zeus turned his lover into a soot stain all those years ago. As for Poseidon, he had grown more and more angry with the god of lightning for years, for every time an Olympian council meeting was held, Zeus always brought up the idea of killing Poseidon's two demigod twins. It made him even more upset now, knowing that the entire time Zeus had been hiding one as well.

The Olympians had made my job easy, all that was needed was a little push to get things going.

After the claiming of Zeus's child, Hera had gone missing, and was nowhere to be found. And after she was missing from the Olympian council meeting a few days later, there was an Earth-wide search to find her. After three days she still had not been found, leading everyone to think that she had finally been broken, after years of disrespect from her husband.

I found her rather quickly though, for I was always one to gravitate towards distress. I found her sitting on a beach, in a remote island of the Bermuda Triangle. She had large bags underneath her bright brown eyes, and had clearly been crying for a long time, for her eyes were bloodshot and puffy. She had a cup next to her, and a giant goblet full of the red wine. Her usually braided hair was nappy and unkempt, and her skin was a shade paler than normal. The white, loose dress she wore was practically falling off from her body, and it was filthy, being stained by sand, dirt, and salt from the ocean alike.

I smiled to myself. "Absolutely perfect." Still hiding from her sight, I took a few steps into the water on the opposite side of the island. I found a small fish, and trapped it by cupping it, as well as some water, in my hand.

I held it up, and smiled. "Hello, little friend. Tell Lord Poseidon that Hera is on this island. Don't tell him it was a woman who sent you," I warned. "You'll be rewarded much more heavily if he thinks you did it on your own. Understand?" The small fish swirled around in the pool of water in my hand. "Good. Now go on." I placed the fish back into the water and watched it swim away fast.

Hiding myself in the clouds once again, I watched as the Lord of the Seas, Poseidon, emerged from the waves of the ocean. He walked up to Hera with a distressed look, sat down beside her, and put an arm around her bare shoulders.

"What's wrong, my dear Hera?" he asked. "Why have you done this to yourself?"

Maybe it was because she was truly done with the antics of Zeus, or maybe it was the wine, for right when Poseidon asked her those questions, she broke down.

Through strained breathing and teary vision, she began to dispel all her qualms: "I'm not good enough for the King of Olympus. H-He hasn't touched me in years. He refuses to make love, worship, or even compliment me, the most beautiful woman in the world. I mean ... I'm his wife!" She thrashed her arm out in anger. "He is supposed to love me! To stand by my side, like I have." She shook her head, and looked down into her goblet. "Instead, he prefers to continue having children with those mortal _whores_."

She looked at Poseidon, peering straight into his eyes. "I want to be a mother again, and he refuses to make me one. I don't know why he doesn't want m-"

The god of the seas then placed a finger on her lips, stopping her immediately. "No, stop it. Like you said yourself, you're the most beautiful woman alive, Zeus is just too idiotic to realize it. He is too selfish to not think of you when he makes his decisions, and you don't deserve it."

I rolled my eyes. _As if you don't do the same to your wife, Amphitrite._

Hera was silent for a few moments, before smiling. "You mean it?"

Poseidon nodded. "Of course I do, I've thought it for years, since we were children."

_Ew._

Hera, meanwhile, had begun smiling like an idiot, as gallons of blood rushed to color her face. "Oh, Poseidon …"

He then stood up, and held a hand out for her to grab. "Are you better now?" He asked, a large, confident smile on his face.

She looked at his hand, and nodded in response, before allowing him to help her up.

"Good. You don't need to be stressing yourself over that idiot, you're far too wonderful for all that."

Hera made it to her feet, her eyes now not leaving from Poseidon's. "I suppose … you're right."

I wondered how it all came together so easily, as I admired the work I'd done. Either Poseidon was a serious smooth talker, or Hera was that drunk.

Or horny.

"Come," he said, leading her towards the sea. "Amphitrite is away visiting her grandfather, Oceanus. You must come over for dinner."

She followed his lead, with no resistance whatsoever. "Very well, my Lord." With that, the two stepped into the ocean, descending slowly until finally they were both out of sight.

I shook my head, in disbelief. You'd think after all my years of doing this, I'd seen it all. Still, I smiled to myself, and teleported back onto the beach.

I walked over to where Hera sat, leaned over, and grabbed the goblet of wine that she had left. It was tipped over, leaking out and dying the sand below it red. I swished around the few droplets that hadn't escaped, and smiled to myself.

"Like clockwork."

***** β *****

**Like I said, a small little interlude in these stories. These shouldn't take long to rewrite, since each once is only around 2,000 words-ish.**

**So yeah, I'll do two short reviews for this chapter, since I just updated yesterday.**

**You10 said: _"_** **_If Percy is going to have pink eyes I think Hecate told him, that would make him a child of Aphrodite? Can't wait for more of this story!"_ **

**Hmm ... perhaps ...**

**If you read the last version of this story you'd already know, so I'll just go ahead and reveal it: Yeah, he's gonna masquerade as a son of Aphrodite.**

**acendvgnt said: _"_ _Chaos created gravity... noice m8. Also, why does Hecate keep "sucking her teeth"? Is she okay? /s"_**

**Yeah I know, I'm clever right? I'm just kidding, I don't think it was too special, but thanks. And idk if they do that from the UK (I'm just assuming because you said m8 lol), but here in the United States at least, when you suck your teeth you're usually annoyed. It's a weird noise, and I honestly don't know if you really are technically, _sucking your teeth_ , but it's what it's called. Whenever she does it she's getting annoyed having to answer all the questions he has, especially if they're kinda irrelevant, or having to hear some dumb comment of his. It's more of a cute thing, nothing too serious.**

**See all of you soon. Stay safe and healthy, and _please_ try to review. Bye!**


End file.
